I've only stripped one (1) Ludwig maple snare drum that was wrapped in chrome wrap. Never a bass drum. It was an 80's COW and my experience was; the wrap was only tacked on at the seam! It was an early version of today's taped at the seam wraps, ala; Jammin' Sam. Once I got the glued down end of the seam up, it literally fell off the drum. It was not glued anywhere else. To tell you the truth, I was more than a little disappointed to see how shoddy the manufacturing methods had become at my favorite drum company during the 80's.

If your bass drum is built the same way, once you lift the seam, the wrap will simply drop off, leaving clean, natural maple wood showing. It also sounds like your drum was one of the 'riveted seam' shells they produced during this same period in an effort to save money on glue. Poor, misguided bastards.

Hope this helps...

John

Well, I unwrapped a 14x24 COW bass drum, and this was not the case. It probably took me a little over an hour, using a heat gun, and slowly unwrapping a couple inches at a time. It did, however, come off in one piece, as I just kept rolling it up. To get it started, I did need to dremel off the rivets. BTW, this wrap was made of metal, and was unbelievably heavy.

I wish the one I had was only fastened at the seam with the rivets like Purdie Shuffle's. I did a 13x14 10 lug tom and stripping it of its metal wrap was in about the same trouble and time frame as mendozart mentioned. It was glued on pretty good. And, I've got a 16x16 to do, too...

Yeah, it does seems heavy. I'm making some leeway though. It appears to be glued entirely, but it is lifting in some spots so I'm not so worried about this. Even though it isn't an early 70s model (and therefore not worth as much), I was really surprised by how great the shape of the inside and bearing edges are, so I'm treating it in the same manner as I would something older. It's still a drum, right? I do agree with you though, Ludwig (as all the American brands) did sink in quality during this time, but I've heard some good things about the sound quality of their 6-ply maple shells from this period.

Out of curiosity, how'd you take the rivets off?

When you heated the glue did the wrap get too hot? What did you use to take the rivets out? The shell's were built well but idk what ludwig was thinking with this one...

I just used a dremel to grind off the outer lip of the rivets. At that point, the wrap just lifted off and I pulled out the rivets with pliers, once they were exposed. As to your other question about the wrap getting hot, yes, it get's extremely hot, so use some good leather gloves. My heat gun came with an extension that is about 3" wide. Just go back and forth slowly across the drum using several passes, then pull the wrap till it stops coming off. Repeat this process numerous times as you make your way around the drum. Just go slowly so you don't splinter the wood. Patience is the name of the game.

thanks for the info! what kind of sand paper would you use after getting the wrap off? 220?